as small as a world and as large as alone, One day, I was painting. And my finger made a...

11:38pm August 9, 2013

One day, I was painting. And my finger made a squiggle, and another, and a pair of kittens came out. A girl with a knobby nose, and a boy. Between their faces, the ghostly face of another cat. And the words, “Do you remember her?”

I soon came to realize that these were two littermates who had lost their mother, and became very close to each other as a result. And they began popping up in more and more paintings, telling me their story in nonlinear cat fashion.

It isn’t the sort of story you can read or write. It’s scenes in the lives of two kittens that go right down to the core of who they are, without the need for things like a plot.

One painting shows them remembering their mother, their paws touching. Her face is barely visible in between their heads.

One painting shows them beside themselves with grief and fear, intertwined and huddled together for comfort, holding each other up and making it possible for each other to be brave.

One painting shows them climbing something. The boy sits at the top, looking down at his sister, while she looks up at her brother from beneath.

One painting shows the girl lying down, with her brother sitting up next to her.

One painting shows the brother leaping after a butterfly, while his sister crouches, staring intently at the butterfly.

One painting shows them sitting together, one curled up, the other sitting up.

One painting shows the sister lying down while her brother licks her head.

That’s just the beginning, though. Feline body language is subtle and complex. It doesn’t translate well to words. And despite the fact that their bodies are reduced to a painted line or two, they somehow have all the depth of real cats. I don’t feel like I can take credit for it though. They just showed up and this is how they look. I had nothing to do with it, as far as I can tell.

There’s often as much or more information in the background of my paintings as in the foreground. Many of the purple backgrounds in these paintings are more subtle than my usual ones, but there’s still a fair amount of depth and complexity if you look hard enough.

I love these kittens. I love their perseverance and their strength and their love for each other and their love for life. I feel like I know them. I always hope I will get to meet them again. They seem real to me.

Tumblr will undoubtedly force my image set into different shapes and sizes than it should be. I’d recommend clicking on them to get the full size. Also, the flash of the camera has altered some of the color.

Acrylic on paper, with fingers.